Ireland. New Silver Proof Collector Coins Honour the Legacy of Author George Bernard Shaw

On the centenary anniversary as a recipient of the Nobel Prize for literature, Shaw’s works continue to captivate and enthral audiences for their wit and satire. George Bernard Shaw left a legacy as one of the greatest writers of all time with countless essays, five novels and more than 60 plays to his name. His most successful work Pygmalion was adapted for film with his popular screenplay winning him an Oscar and was later adapted into the Broadway Musical My Fair Lady.

Born in Dublin to a family of English descent and who belonged to the dominant Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland, George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was the youngest child and only son of George Carr Shaw, employed in the civil service at the time of Shaw’s birth. Having grown up in an unhappy household, the young George found solace in the music that abounded in the house. It was said his mother Bessie had a fine mezzo-soprano which meant the Shaws' house was often filled with music and frequent gatherings of singers and performers. In 1876, Shaw left Dublin bound for London and never again lived in Ireland, he did not visit the land of his birth for another twenty-nine years. Around the time of his move to London, Shaw decided to drop the use of his first name and was insistent that he be called ‘Bernard Shaw’. For the next four years Shaw made a negligible income from writing but it wasn’t until the mid-1880’s when he had two novels published, and began a career as a critic. Of Shaw's various reviewing activities in the 1880’s and 1890’s it was as a music critic that he was best known, reviewing musicals up until his death.

Shaw's first play to bring him financial success was entitled Arms and the Man in 1894, a mock- comedy set in the fictional country of Ruritania satirising conventions of love, military honour and class. In 1898, as a result of overwork, Shaw's health broke down and was nursed by Charlotte Payne-Townshend (1856 – 1943) a rich Anglo-Irish woman whom he had met through friends. It was she had proposed that she and Shaw should marry but later agreed to the marriage which took place in June 1898, in the register office in Covent Garden. The couple who were both forty one years old would remain together until Charlotte’s death in 1943 and there were no children in the marriage.

During the first decade of the twentieth century, Shaw secured a firm reputation as a playwright. From 1904 and over the next five years, fourteen of Shaw's plays were staged. The first, entitled John Bull's Other Island was a comedy about an Englishman in Ireland which attracted leading politicians as well as King Edward VII who laughed so much that he broke his chair. Now prosperous as a leading figure in modern British drama, Shaw experimented with unorthodox theatrical forms described as "discussion drama" and "serious farce", he made a name for himself for his intellectual, witty, and satirical plays, which often tackled contemporary social issues. Shaw’s major works such as Man and Superman in 1902, Pygmalion in 1913 and Saint Joan in 1923 incorporated both contemporary satire and historical allegory. In 1925, Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in recognition of his work, which was described as being ‘marked by both idealism and humanity, its stimulating satire often being infused with a singular poetic beauty’. Shaw accepted the award, but declined the monetary prize stating that his readers and audiences provided him with more than sufficient money for his needs.

Shaw would go on to receive an Academy Award in 1939 for Best Adapted Screenplay for the adaptation of his play Pygmalion. It was adapted into a British film by Shaw and others, starring Leslie Howard as Henry Higgins and Wendy Hiller as Eliza Dolittle. As such, he is one of only two people to date who have won both an Academy Award and a Nobel Prize for Literature. The same play and film would be re-named My Fair Lady which was produced as a lavish musical in 1964 starring Audrey Hepburn as Eliza and Rex Harrison as Higgins. Shaw's 1933 play A Village Wooing was based on the courtship with his wife Charlotte and about a writer and a woman who meet on a cruise who only become a couple when they develop a working relationship.  In 1943, with the worst of the London bombing over, the Shaw’s moved back to London from their country estate where medical help for Charlotte was more easily arranged. However, her condition deteriorated, and she died in September.

In the final decade of his life, he continued to write prolifically until shortly before his death in 1950 at the age of 94 sustained by injuries incurred when falling while pruning a tree. He was cremated and his ashes along with those of Charlotte were scattered along footpaths and around the statue of Saint Joan in their garden. Throughout his adult life Shaw endeavoured to be referred to as Bernard rather than George Bernard but confused matters by continuing to use his full initials GBS as a by-line and often signed his full name. He left instructions in his will that his executor was to license publication of his works only under the name ‘Bernard Shaw’.

The silver proof coins are produced by the Royal Dutch Mint at their facilities in Houten, Netherlands on behalf of the Central Bank of Ireland. The obverse side includes a profile image of Shaw facing left with an open book with page marker and facsimile signature in a vertical direction on the right. Next to the rim on the right is a laurel branch, in reference to the Nobel Prize. Along the left and top rim is the inscription NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE 1925 with the denomination 15 EURO placed just under the Shaw’s image.  The reverse side depicts the national insignia of Ireland, the cláirseach or Celtic harp which is centred. The text EIRE and 2025 are positioned on either side of the harp. 

Available from the 17th June, each coin is encapsulated and presented in a Central Bank of Ireland branded custom case accompanied with a certificate of authenticity. For additional information on this and other coins available from the Central Bank, please visit their retail website.